One of the weddings I did last fall has been featured in the wedding blog, Heart and Love Weddings. I am just so happy to share this post. I knew the bride, Amy, was very happy with her flowers, but I just didn't know she was "over the top" happy until she sent me the feature to read.

I remember meeting with Amy, and taking copious notes, but apparently I missed something. I remember putting together a proposal, which I thought totally captured her vision, sending it to her and pretty soon after, getting a call from her. She told me we had a disconnect somewhere and proceeded to restate her vision and desires for her flowers. She did it in a positive way, and I think you see the results of that collaboration. It truly is a collaboration in which both the bride and the floral designer have the very same goal - gorgeous flowers on wedding day! I think Amy knew that! She is a special girl!!!

I really, really do feel very close to my brides by the time of the wedding (usually by the end of the first consultation). There is just this strong connection that I feel, which is very hard to define. I guess it has to do with being a part of one of the most special days in a bride's life. My goal for each and every bride, is to execute the bride's vision in a beautiful and elegant style, with a huge emphasis on "elegant".

I cannot wait to deliver the bouquets for this evening's wedding! A rainbow wedding it is...the girls will have on different colored dresses. Each will have on a dress in each color in the rainbow, but they are all soft colors! The guys will have on black shirts and pants and custom monogramed converse tennis shoes each one matching the bridesmaid he will escort. How fun!!!! This wedding is one to be submitted to a "Rainbow" blog!

Precious bride with a precious personality! Here is a picture of her bouquet with, you guessed it, all colors in the rainbow.

The bridesmaids will carry all white hydrangea bouquets.

Well off to deliver right now! Cannot wait to see how all the colors come together!!!

I had so much fun with these flowers for this party. It was a party featuring the celebrated Richmond artist, Sunny Goode. Her work is fabulous!!! I loved, loved, loved it! And she is just lovely!!!!

My client gave me pretty much a blank slate for this party. She did give me the invitation showing me the color scheme, which really complemented the artist's work! She gave me some FABULOUS containers, and I used some of mine as well. She also told me she wanted designs that were more current and fun...... JUST MY CUP OF TEA!!!!!

So here are the designs I created.

Loved these vibernum from LynnVale Studio!! I love locally sourced flowers as well as my food!!!

I captured the design in the vase with the flowers!! I did love this!!

Isn't this epergne the most gorgeous thing you have ever seen? So, historically they were use primarily to display fruit as well as flowers. So, I decided to use both in an effort to present a current look and stay true to history and tradition. You can't see the purple baby artichokes, but they were great. I also put the artichokes, key limes, and kumquats in the arrangement to tie it together, but I didn't capture them in this shot.

This design was for a table on the deck! The weather happened to be fabuous! How fun and cute is this?

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed designing the flowers for this party!

If you love Sunny Goode's work as much as I do, visit her web site at www.sunnygoode.com!

'Tis the season! For weddings that is. The flowers this time of year are abundant, plentiful, and gorgeous! The weather can be glorious and, luckily it has been for recent weddings. (I hope no one was affected by the storm on Friday night!)

I thought I would share my photos of some recent designs, which were not expensive at all, but extremely effective. The first is of an all peony and dusty miller bridesmaid bouquet with vintage brooches, which the bride provided. The season has, until recently, been "iffy" for peonies. I searched my contacts in Maryland, California, New York, and finally Virginia before I found them for this ALL PEONY wedding. I got 20 stems of the only 50 stems around for this wedding! Wow! I was so relieved to find them.

I was asked to do the designs for a rehearsal dinner last week with potted plants instead of cut flowers. The designs were to be more masculine and ones that could be given away to enjoy for years to come. I used white azalea, angel vine, mini olive trees and succulents to create this design in galvanized cubes. Spanish moss was used to cover the containers and to highlight the gray/silver tones in the succulents and the backs of the olive tree leaves.

Finally, I got to do the flowers for the second daughter to marry in this lovely family. The bride and her mom wanted a very clean, sophisticated look for the centerpieces. They also wanted me to design a piece for the pergola with lots of foliage and several of the flowers in the wedding bouquets. Take a look at the centerpieces of white hydrangea and the design work for the pergola.

Those who know me are well aware of my extreme admiration for Ariella Chezar. Ariella is an internationally known floral designer who lives in New York. Her style is so elegant and lush it is no wonder she is so highly sought after.

This was my second class with Ariella, and it didn't disappoint. We met at a Starbucks and then walked to the flower market on 28th Street where Ariella talked about how she selected flowers and created her color palette. After swooning over those gorgeous flowers, we then walked to two ribbon and trim companies located in the Garment District. I had been to both, but it was a treat to be there with Ariella showing us which ribbons she would use in her design work. The ribbons that blew me away were the vintage ribbons, most of which were made in France, and those that once they are gone, that ribbon is "no more" as Ariella said.

After our tour of the Flower Market and the ribbon and trim shops, we took taxis back to FlowerSchool New York and were treated to a delicious lunch. After lunch, Ariella demonstrated her style of creating a bridal bouquet. We all asked tons of questions, which she welcomed. I don't think I've ever been as inspired as I was after that class. Ariella was fantastic, and all the women participating in the class were all so passionate about this business/art that I left there on a huge high!!!! It was a GREAT day!

Have you ever seen such beautiful tulips?

Delicious ranunculus and tulips!

I am one of the luckiest women in the world! I reinvented myself 6 years ago, and I have never been so passionate about my work! So, never ever think you are ready to stop growing! You just never know what joy is around the corner. I read recently that success is where passion, talent, and the market intersect! I think I found that sweet place!